THE SPY BUSINESS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 151, 23 December 1935, Page 8

THE SPY BUSINESS

THICKS OF THE TRADE

WHERE ERRORS ARE FATAL

The life of a spy, in peace and war, hangs perpetually 'on a thread. It is. perhaps this uncertainty that attracts women to the ranks of this often ill-paid, dangerous profession (writes G. P. Tisdall in the "Liverpool Weekly Post"). Just a trifling error in the forgery of a passport was the downfall of one of the most famous spies which Germany sent over here during the war. This man, Breeckow, .came over here in the early part of 1915 with some compatriots, but as he had previously spent several years in America and spoke English with a distinct American'accent, the German-Secret Service had thought it advisable to have an American passport made out for him. This was done in the name of "Reginald Rowland," but the man who forged the passport wasn't quite accurate enough, for our' Secret Service agents at _ Southampton— actually one of the C.I.D. special branch; men—detected the,lact that the American eagle design on the passport qf "Reginald Rowland" had one claw missing. . , PASSED THROUGH. As a result of this forger's mistake Breeckow was detected, but he was allowed to pass through with O.K. by the Customs men. For a short time he was allowed to operate in Scotland, where he made futile attempts to.obtain naval -information. And all the time he was shadowed by a British Secret Service agent.- We were thus able to get a good idea of the way German spies were instructed to act. Eventually Breeckow was informed1 of the fateful error of his forged passport, and he was taken to face the firing party in the Tower . . . but actually died of heart failure just a few seconds before the flag was due to drop. / : It is. on such .vital details as these, in wartime that the life of a Secret Service agent depends. But forgerey plays just as big a part in counter-espionage during peace times. Forged passports and Government papers are still" necessary to ?give a Secret • Service agent free access to all possible sources of information. The agent of a foreign Government who wishes to pose as a research chemist or analytical expert in the steel line (in order to gain access to the latest developments in munitions factories) needs papers which, apparently made put in good faith, give him the "ehtre" to the munitions-making front. " : : V . So small printers and process engravers are employed by many indirect sources to produce papers which are the "magic carpet"- of: a Secret Service man in peace time. Not only passports and visas have to be forged and copied, but commercial letter headings have to be duplicated, and the signatures of many famous business men transferred to forged documents. . ' . . ■ . . . ■ Much of this work is done photographically, as the modern forger finds it easy to work with photographic copy in front of him. Official documents of ten ' bear water marks which are copied by the simple process of impregnating the duplicate paper with wax—after' the forger has made an exact copy of .the original water mark. ■■ - . .;■.■■' ■:. ;. ;■ ■ ;-■ ■, - ARE A PART. V Codesj cyphers, methods of secret service communication, and the establishment of xodes to coyer Government secrets all form part: of ah espionage man's work. All manner of dodges are resorted to by the Secret Service,. who, have to carry messages, from one centre to another under the eyes of Customs and Government officials;; and. also by espionage men, who, detecting messages in transit, have to get photographic copies made, have the code transcribed, and allow the original message to go through unchecked, so-that the spy shall not know that he is under observation and so change his plans. Contrary to what is generally given out in the Press, the British Secret Service does not use elaborate means of disguising communiques.' It is found that top much secrecy and coding is apt to make other Secret Service men suspicious. ■■■■•■■■■.. Sir Edward Grey, when he was Foreign Secretary, had the happy knack of upsetting diplomatic procedure by always writing in "plain code" so that exasperated foreign propagandists never knew whether or not his personal messages were facts or simply an elaborate code to hide the truth. ' UNSEALING LETTERS. Secret Service papers which are marked \ "Confidential,". "Secret," and "Very Secret," are always more likely to be the object of observation than thosd which go through unmarked. But when letters of other Secret Service men are discovered it is sometimes necessary that they should reveal their contents so that duplicate copies can be made. ''. Experts in the Secret Service can remove and replace seals, so that there is really no effective way of doing up a letter securely. Banks, for example, still send confidential documents in envelopes which are heavily sealed at one! end, but '"■which usually.-"have; the other end' gummed down and unprotected!' this, of course, is easy work for a counter-espionage agent. ;. •. When the agents get, by means of forged introduction, into the employ of the concern whose machines.he )s actually spying it is necessary, for him to,get coded messages out through Secret Service, channels to .his own War.Office Department. . . - ' Mainy codes, such as the "Playfair," are used for this purpose. .In spite of the famous decoding of the Zimrnermann Note, there are still many codes which the Secret Service 'believe are insoluble without the : decoder;being in possession' of the original code word. :;And even in peace time the- success of Secret Service working depends on .COde. ■ -:' ■■'/..■;; '..'•■ ■''■: f? ..■•/■' "'